


before you were knit in your mother's womb

by ticoyuu



Category: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor
Genre: Drabble, Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Pre-Canon, happy vday naoya!! i guess. pensive emoji
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 04:10:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17821634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ticoyuu/pseuds/ticoyuu
Summary: "nao-nii, how did'ya find me?""that's simple, baby brother. i've known you longer than anyone in the world."#naoyangst2k19





	before you were knit in your mother's womb

**Author's Note:**

> title is (paraphrased) from psalm 193:13 bc my one (1) skill is useless bible trivia and tbh it does add to the kazunao experience :0/
> 
> written on my phone and unbeta'd lol

kazuya is five and playing with the dogs in the field behind their grandparents' farm. the sun begins to set and when the fields are shaded golden and the wind blows cold and the dogs have returned yet kazuya is not with them, naoya comes to find him at their grandmother's behest.

he finds him sobbing and curled into the bark of a tree. his hands are grubby and his face is a mess and naoya can see reddened scratches on bony knees peeking from the hem of his shorts.

kazuya blinks up at him with wide, teary blue eyes. "nao-nii!" he cries, and puts up his little arms. he clings to naoya's leg and sniffles wetly into his clothes.

naoya, age thirteen, picks him up and   sandwiches shaky, damp baby kazuya between his skinny arms and his chest, and holds him tight all the way back.

later before bed, kazuya asks him a question. he is chewing on his forefinger and blinking sleepily; innocent and carefree. his knees have fresh bandaids and his face is washed. he has already forgotten his earlier terror.

for the second time that day naoya is struck with a bitter unease. but he just smiles instead and tells him--

_("nao-nii, how did'ya find me?"_

_"that's simple, baby brother. i've known you longer than anyone in the world.")_

\--right now naoya is young and wants to throw a tantrum; he wants to spill too many words a child's brain cannot process, he wants to cry that he thought he'd find him bleeding from his head with the greedy earth lapping at his blood. he wants to cry that he's lost him time after time. but their Father had taken his right to be a child many lifetimes ago.

instead he smiles like an adult and lies that the dogs told him. they can follow your scent, he says.

the way kazuya's eyes shine in wonder at a lie makes him sour, and reflecting in kazuya's wide blue eyes is his own countenance.

 _"pathetic,"_ it mocks him. _"helpless."_

but baby kazuya smiles so wide his eyes screw shut. and with that simple action the apparition shatters, and kazuya says to him, unreservedly affectionate and bleary with sleep--

"g'night, nii-chaa!"

\--and it is the only voice naoya hears then; and he is snuggled with his baby brother in a warm country bed, and the darkness is peaceful and blessedly silent.

**Author's Note:**

> hey so. listen, i REALLY love the concept of baby bro/niichan pet names. "be on the lookout for more," i say, without a single upright intention, ,
> 
> i used to link my tumblr, but since the purge tm im more active on twitter and discord. feel free to hmu for whatever!!
> 
> @geckcellent on tw, sir geckcellent#0551 on discord


End file.
